The Last Watcher Day One
This is my entry for Day 1 (Daily Prompt Roll:5)
I amhere at the Shard Keep to fulfill my obligation to the one who saved my life. Once, I was a soldier in the Skirmash Wars. I left behind my life as a soldier. I had no family left and no possessions to speak of. My horse, my armor, and my pride are all I carry with me to the Keep. I vow to stay until relieved and study the books and scrolls. I wanted to find out why the Shard Keep needed a Watcher. As I entered the keep, I remembered waking up there all those years ago. Now, as it was then, the room is empty and barren. I can see the light coming from the chapel again. As I entered the Chapel, I could see the brazier on top of the altar at the head of the church still burning. The older man I had met before slumped against the Ater with his back to the flame. His head hung low, but there was a scroll still lying in his hands. I began searching the area around the altar for any signs of history, instructions, or anything else that might help me understand why it was so important to watch the Flame or how I should proceed now that I was here. As a last effort, I pulled the scroll from the hands of the older man. While reading the section already open, I found a diary of the days spent here in the Kepp. But the scroll was written by my predecessor, rather than a tale from a Watcher in the past.
Unrolling the scroll to the beginning, I found the first entry to mirror what I was experiencing. I sat next to the older man and began to read, slowly understanding what I would find in the keep. The storeroom has beenreplenished with food, water, and other supplies. The barracks with surprisingly comfortable beds and wardrobes full of what seems to be the uniform of the Watchers. Finally, there was the Vault, which was both a treasury, a library, and an artifact storage room. About 20 days into the diary, the old Watcher told of finding the first of the histories of the Keep. It stated that it would be best that the new Watcher should see it on their own. It seemed like a good place to stop reading and roam the keep. There may also be a crypt in which I should place the past watcher.
Leaving the chapel via the side door, I found myself in a great hall. The ceiling reached to the top of the entire keep. There were 6 fireplaces in the great hall. Torches were lit around the hall, too. A table that would have held over 20 people lined the center. The southern end of the north of the great hall was open as if a great dance or ball would happen at anytime. There was space for musicians on the far end. A door to the east led into another hallway, this one lined with suits of armor and weapons on the walls; only one fireplace was placed in the room, mirroring one in the grand hallway. Off the smaller hallway was a circular stairway that led to the vault holding all of the scrolls and records of the Shard Keep. The barracks and store room were in the same room. The beds in the barracks called to me. The trip had been extended, with a few nights spent in an inn. The beds were beyond comfortable for a barracks, and the night clothes were the softest wool I had ever worn. I decided it was enough for tonight and that all would still be there in the morning, including the old watcher.
